In "re-branding" his comedy-hypnosis routine, Frazier has discovered an even more eager audience.

"Since we switched to the new name, we've absolutely turned people away at the door," said Frazier, a Linden resident and architect of an R-rated series of hypno-comedy shows at Stockton's Valley Brewing Company. "It caters to a crowd that's more mature. It's a way for people who never thought about going to a show to take a second look."

That's mostly because his performance is based on readings from "Fifty Shades of Grey," a kinky and explicit 2011 "romance" novel by England's E.L. (Erica Leonard) James.

Frazier tries it for a fourth time Saturday. The show includes a diversity of racial shades, too, with Stockton's Martin King, Roseville's Janelle Murphy and D.J. Sandhu, from Sacramento, doing their stand-up routines.

"It's important to give people an opportunity to hear comedians from different perspectives," said Frazier, 43, an Edison High School graduate who's been developing his hypnotic skills since 1995. "I don't like stereotypes. I don't like stereotypes based on race."

King concurred with that.

"Yeah, you wanna keep it diverse," said King, 43, who's returning to a more-regular comedy schedule. "It's very important to mix it up and have something for everybody. One clean. One dirty. One in-between."

Keeping it interesting - and titillating - helps, too, even if King is skeptical about hypnosis.

"It's funny," King said of "50 Shades of Funny." "It's really good. Something different. After he (Frazier) makes you believe it (hypnotism), it's a trip. I've seen a really big man cry."

Of course, audience members - Frazier's clientele includes lawyers, police officers and, once, a 14-member group from San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department - were laughing. Not derisively, though.

Frazier's premise for "50 Shades of Funny": The audience members are deaf, but can't read conventional sign language. So, the person he brings on stage must act out the erotic - sometimes really kinky - James passages that he reads.

"The volunteers are full-body translators," Frazier said. "I'll read three or four passages and they wind up gyrating and making all kinds of different motions. It's kind of like charades."

He hypnotizes people into thinking they're Christian Grey, the protagonist in the "Grey" trilogy.

"We try not to use really adult language," said Frazier, who had to do just that in describing the show's raunchiest scenarios. "It's more like theater."

After "several" friends had read James' books, "I decided maybe I'm gonna read them, too," Frazier said. "And get an idea for a new show. I actually have all three of them."

Frazier, who still operates his "legal support business," hopes to become a full-time hypno-therapist by the end of the year. He's already certified as a "virtual gastric-band therapist."

He can use hypnosis to "make (people) eat less food and lose weight" rather that undergo surgery.

King, a single father of three teenage sons, fits the "adult but not so aggressive" comic mode. Eddie Murphy is a major influence.

Originally from Cassopolis, Mich., King attended Delta College when his U.S. Army family moved to Tracy.

He saw "Eddie Murphy Raw" (1987): "That's when I wanted to be a comedian. In high school, I always made people laugh."

In Stockton, he did that in Motown & More, a "dance-vaudeville" act with Eric Guzman, before trying stand-up comedy in 1997.

He also was an on-the-field announcer for the Stockton Ports in 2008 and worked the night shift and weekends for 18 months at KWIN radio as DJ Pork Chop.

He and Guzman won Stockton's Apollo Night competition in 1997. King now runs a business (NorCal Limo Party Bus) that transports people to sporting events and wineries.

"I stopped about four years ago," King said of his stalled comedy career with routines ranging from "PG-13 to R" ratings. "I wasn't going anywhere. I took a couple of years to think about it. Now I'm getting back in.

"Oh, man, it gives me a chance to give them some relief. Give 'em an escape. I can give them a good laugh. They can go home and give it a good cry."